Whoa! Getting old, my last week as being a teenager! Last Tuesday it rained cats and dogs. It got to the point that we just stopped walking around getting disappointed and visited a member. He talked about his time in Italy it was sweet. On Wednesday President Cardon, Area President, and his wife did a mission tour. He came and talked about how small the earth and we are in respect to the rest of the universe. It was cool but I didn't really feel like I learned anything. At the beginning he shakes your hand and asks where you are from. So I said Taylor, Arizona, hometown proud, which he knows. I guess his family has some ranch outside of Airpine. It was as good meeting. My favorite part was when Pres. Cardon had President and Sister Smith bear their testimonies. It was really touching to hear them talk about their believes and they both related to how much they love us. Later as we were out working a little girl got a shock seeing me and could just stand and stare and say a white man in ghana. Yep. Thursday we contacted a house but everyone there only spoke twi but as we were leaving a boy came out and asked if he could talk to us for a few minutes. He is 15 and a Jehovah's Witness. He asked about if we could see God and about giving blood. It was amazing to see how much into the bible he was. Especially when I compare to how much time I was spending memorizing scriptures. This kid definitely has put in a lot of time. We went back and his parents said he is too young to talk to us but they said they'd think about it if he wants to. We'll see. The very next day we ended up being in the same compound house as Jehovah's Witnesses missionaries and this kid's dad was one. The people we were teaching wanted a "joint discussion" so we said cool. We talked about Joseph Smith and his vision and unsettled the J.W. They wanted to just bible bash with us and we basically put our foot down and wouldn't. Afterward the Dad said not to come back. Guess you win some and lose some. We prepared a few baptismal records this week and it is still surprising how parents don't even know the full name and birth date of their children. Even when their kids are there they themselves don't remember. Guess it is just a difference in our cultures. Saturday we were called to come and help with a baptism since their wasn't enough priesthood holders for witnesses etc. I was asked to give a talk about Baptism and the Holy Ghost. I realized that I wasn't prepared at all when the candidates came in. Two were under 10 and the other 11. Had to do some quick thinking to make it more relavant for them. With the Primary Anniversary there was a program. It was really funny because as the kids would sing they gave one girl a microphone and it kid of drowned out everyone else. They did good though. We are teaching an ex-muslism now christian lady named Sarah. This was her first Sunday of coming to church and even though it was late enough to miss sacrament meeting it was a blessing. She had been having some marital difficulites with her husband and it had delayed her. We had combined Relief Society and Priesthood and it was all about living happy righteously and providently with your spouse. I think, it was kind of in Twi. Either way she said it really helped her out. Definitely can tell the church is true when it has something for everyone. My email is a lot later this week since we went to Tema and played games at the MTC. They have 60 something kids there and when they all are outside it almost makes their yard feel too cramped. It was good though. The missionaries in the MTC loved when we were playing soccer that I would call for the ball and everything in Twi. Too bad I don't know more of it. Hope everyone has a great week.

This whole past week has felt like limbo land. Going through transfers is usually like that when their are changes though. Plus we spent a lot of time early on in the week visiting recent converts so Elder Riding could say goodbye. It was pretty fun. Though it meant going through plenty of Ghanaian cuisine. Now being the only white in our apartment I definitely notice a difference since it is the first time. When we are out walking around I kind of forget that I actually stand out so much. Crazy seeing how little kids and even adults are usually yelling obruni at us, but at the apartment it is very strange to think that I'm the only white person for miles and miles. We are teaching a lady from Seoul Korea who is kind of stranded here but she missed an appointment last week and then didn't come to church so we went and visited her and found out she had a baby. I was kind of shocked, she didn't look pregnant at all. It was really cool though when she handed me to her and before I could object turned around to get something from inside. Holding a five day old baby with Hailee coming so recent was awesome. I haven't held her but it was sweet to hold this kid and see how beautiful she was. It was nice. I am getting tired of people being ruled by politics here. It is ridiculous. They love bringing up in our lessons. To be honest I haven't quite figured out a way to use their view of it incorporated in our lessons but I'm thinking. On Thursday we hit our seven day(and counting) mark of not having running water but luckily it rained. I was tired of using a bucket or a pure water sachet, plastic bag filled with water, to shower so I went outside. Quite possibly one of the nicest showers I have had since leaving home. The water was almost kind of warmish. Kind of. There was an all african service project this last saturday. I didn't go. We already had appointment scheduled and I didn't really want to just bail on them. They cleaned the road up and painted some white lines warning people walking on the sidewalk they are getting close to the gutter. We had a pretty tense Sunday meeting. We needed two of the people we baptized to get confirmed but only one of them showed up. A high councilor came and talked. I didn't really understand his talk since it was in broken twi-english. One part that I do was that he talked about my companion, who had stood up and been introduced. He mentioned about how the american elders are usually white, pointing at me, like him. He then went on to say in twienglish that he was so happy to see an american missionary who looked like all of them. Kind of funny since I was the only white person there out of the 160ish in the ward. Elder White and I laughed at it even though no one else really found the humor in it. Elder White is from North Carolina. He is a pretty funny kid. His dream is to become an actor, which from the sounds of things he was well on his way before he came on his mission. His grandma was the first person in his family to join the church and still most of his family aren't members. He has been out about 6 months and was in the office as a supply elder before coming to Ashaiman. That is kind of the excitement from here for the week.

I think about how saying the right things seems so easy but then doing it is so much harder. Sometimes I think Satan puts that thought into our head and also that we say something but don't take into consideration all of the little things that will come along with it. I love you guys!
love elder gibson

Well what a week. Monday we went and ate a pig and went to the MTC. It was weird talking to some of the missionaries there. I'm glad to say that when I met missionaries while I was there I didn't ask as silly of questions as they did. It was funny though. A lot of the days this week seemed to passed by really really slow but all of a sudden they were over. Kind of like magic. This week we did have zone conference which always throws everything out of whack though. We ran into an old contact, Sarah, that hadn't really shown too much action so we stopped after two meetings and she told us she had read everything and wanted us to come back. Definitely is someone looking for something specific, our first meeting she went straight to baptism. I guess we'll wait and see how that progresses but pretty encouraging especially since she invited her husband and small daughter to join us. Another sweet person from the week is named Vincent. He is late 20's early 30's who owns a gamestation (room full of play stations, x box, etc.) and lives with his mother. He is really interested in the gospel. He has been bouncing from church to church. We stopped by yesterday and gave him a Book of Mormon and then today we passed by and he has read the entire introduction and all the tesitmonies. Really good signs, I hope that they can turn into something. We had a really funny but somewhat strange experience. As we were doing some contacting a man accepted a pamphlet and gave us a time to come and then as we left started following us asking for money for transport to another city. We explained we don't give money and he then said okay and started to follow us around as we continued to contact. He'd show people around who we were talking to the pamphlet and say this church is inviting you. Luckily we were able to lose him in a housing complex that is like a maze. About 30-40mins later he found us as he came out of a house and follows us AGAIN! Ugh it was so annoying and he just kept asking for money here and there. Finally we lost him by ducking into a entryway and then staying away from that area for the rest of the day. Transfer calls happened this week. I am the only one in our apartment who is staying. I'll be the senior companion to a black American elder named white. He has been out about 6 months and is pretty funny. We'll see how it goes. The other two elders are coming in fresh and I think both of them are Nigerian. On Wednesday we'll find out. Good luck to everyone!

I love having the temple so close. We get to go quarterly so it is nice. Though it is disheartening because a lot of members who are worthy don't take advantage of it. It is something that we stress really heavy when we teach the after baptism lessons so that they can have a good foundation to grow on. Hope you have a great week!
love elder gibson

This week seemed to just fly by. Sad thing is that this next week will go by even quicker. It seemed for some reason that the gutters in our area were really full and backed up this week. The smell was pretty terrible everywhere you were, not too different just a lot stronger then it usually is. We taught a lot of muslisms this week which was pretty strange. One was a real standout. His name is Abraham and he basically just has lots of questions. After teaching him and having him come to church he invited us to a seminar to teach 300 muslisms about the Restoration. Elder Riding was pretty excited but I'm a little apprehensive. I've heard stories of similar things being set up just to bash old testament laws against modern christian beliefs. We'll see what comes of it. Elder Riding got himself into an awkward situation during a first meeting with a new investigator named Jennifer. He asked if she was married and then her sister who wouldn't join us but was washing clothes right by us stopped him in his tracks when she answered for her saying, "no, why, do you want her?. Yeah we got a pretty good laugh, even though he froze for a few moments it ended up all good. Learned how to trap grasscutters out in the wild this week from our recent convert Frank Ada Agyepong. Don't know when or where that will come in handy but hey you never know. Grasscutters are kind of like muskrats. On Saturday Alex Agoboada was baptized. It was pretty sweet even though his father creates some problems by trying to push too much at the wrong times. It at least is in love. I was pretty glad that Sunday after church I got to help ordain him to the priesthood. Sunday was pretty hectic again though. We had 12 people come to church that we are teaching along with a few of their children so we were glad when we could get out of that. It seemed like I kept seeing kids wearing Arizona shirts this week. My favorite was one that had what looked like a road map transfered onto the shirt. It was cool to trace them and tell the kid all of the places that I had been. We are suppose to go eat a big barbecued tongan style so catch you next week. Anyway I hope everything is going great for you guys.

I really like the picture of all the family. Crazy to see how many people were there! It is true that all the technology that we have somehow seperates us. That or more takes out the personal time but I think since coming on my mission I have definitely learned the importance of having those quiet moments a lot more then before. I hope you guys have a great week!
love Elder Gibson

8-3-09 Update

Welcome to August! This week definitely has been an interesting one for sure. Last Monday we had a guy, Alex, we are teaching who we've been somehow skating on thin ice with ask us for a baptismal date. His dad has been a member for 2 years and because of some of the things his Dad said when he was baptized put him off. We treated him as more of a friend since he is just my age, his birthday is sept 15th and he'll turn 20. Kind of worked our way in and finally after we taught a lesson about the Word of Wisdom and Law of Chastity he flat out asked us when can I be baptized. Except the day after he got word that his school will start Aug. 12th or 13th in Cape Coast. Guess we'll baptize him and then have to only see 2 or 3 times a month. Tuesday I ate the biggest ball of Banku I think I ever could. It was about 5lbs each was mine and my companions guess. Definitely not nice, still haven't quite gotten into fermented corn dough stuff yet. We have basically an open street market in my area and on Wednesday we were teaching at a little shop there and a crazy half caste nigerian came and just touched my cheek and then licked his finger like it had frosting on it and said something in Igbo (their language) and then came back for another. Good thing security came out with their canes and basically beat him away, cause I think I might have if he'd tried again. Just made me really angry for some reason. Oops. The guys we were teaching said he has caused problems before though so I don't know the whole story. We went to a recent convert, Nathaniel Tetteh, and he wanted to sing hymns. It was sweet to have a little Christmas in July. Can't wait to have it for real though. We are teaching one guy who is a teacher at a school. As we were locking up our bikes a tro-tro pulls up with like 30 50kg bags of rice. The guy who had been sent to get them and the tro tro driver were kind of just doing it wrong so we helped. It felt so good just to be able to pick them up and kind of actually do something. It was funny because by the end it was me and the guy we had the appointment with cause everyone else was too tired. Saturday we were invited to say a prayer at an Adoring. I don't know if they are called that anywhere else in the world but it is a baby blessing. We said an opening prayer and then the preacher took over. WOW. I have never been more confused in my life for sure. He kept yelling and then had an assistant come in and start drumming. Still haven't quite figured out Charismatic churches at all. Sunday was really busy too. We had 3 baby blessings in our ward. I bet they were nice but most of them were in twi. After that we had 4 confirmations from our baptism on Saturday. Then the Sacrament and then only about 15mins of testimonies. All in all it was a sweet time.

7-27-09 Update

Another week come and gone. This week was pretty nice. It went by really fast. Maybe because one of the days we went on a split and so I was in a different area. Definitely makes the time go by when it is all new. I was with Elder Hortin which was really fun since we came at the same time. We spent a lot of time talking about how quickly the past 8 months have passed for us. Something that was cool when we were on splits was that we skipped rocks and talked to some investigators. Reminded me of being at the creek by the fields and skipping rocks with Shelly and Austin back when I was little. This Sundy we did a Missionary Sacrament Meeting. I gave a talk talking about the worth of souls and how great the member's joy could be if they helped bring but one soul. I hope that all of the things about Missionary work will help them to support us a little bit more. Something that was really touching actually came from about 20mins I spent in the nursery. We were kind of asked to come in and gentle the kids down somehow. Ended up we taught them a song. I don't remember the title but the words were Jesus said love everyone, treat them kindly too. When your heart is filled with love other will love you. It was pretty sweet to watch all these little kids singing and then looking at how to apply the same things to what we do when we teach other people. I liked it. After church we went on a split again because we needed three candidates to be interviewed so Elder Hortin and I went to his area again. Our first stop was a member who offered to feed us. They were expecting 4 Elders though. They brought out plates that had 3 or 4 cups of rice out for each of us. It was decent rice with garden egg (unripened eggplant) stew. Even had goat in it. After eating neither Elder Hortin or I could move and as we got outside and moving I ended up throwing part of it up on the ground. I was glad I did though because Elder Hortin was miserable the rest of the night. I was even able to have a little bit of ice cream from a plastic bag. Reminded me of going to Grandma's house every Sunday and just enjoying. Yeah that is about it for my week.

7-20-09 Update

Another week come and gone in Ghana. This one was pretty sweet. Meet a guy named Wilson Dzereke through a member. He is a pretty funny guy definitely will be a new experience since he is an atheist. I realized people here spoil their kids. If they can do it whatever their kids want they will give to them just so they will be quiet. The little hellians! One of them laid a bite into my companions leg. Yeah got a nerve right between her teeth. We baptized a man name Frank Adu Kwabena Agyepong this saturday and it was really cool. He asked to share his testimony after the closing remarks and spoke in Twi. Afterward one of our recent converts who was in attendance translated for us. He said that basically he just wanted to thank us as the missionaries for working with him to bring him to the Gospel. He had been a sailor and traveled the world but never found anything as satisfying as the message about a young boy named Joseph Smith and how it can change people's lives. Was a sweet pay off for sure. That was probably the best part of my week for sure. I hope everything is going good for you guys!

Yeah our rainy season is kind of hitting the last little bit of it which I'm glad for. The mosquitos have been spawning like nothing else. Everything is going great.

7-13-09 Update

This week was a fairly interesting one for sure. Tuesday when Michael Jackson was buried it was a useless 4 hours. Everyone was watching. There were even people who were out on the streets watching at the places they sell tv's. People were just glued in for sure. I realized this week that I am starting to speak in broken English. Yeah, guess I'm just losing everything Ms. Cunningham instilled in me. Obama coming to visit definitely was interesting. Didn't really know that he was coming at all. Not until we went out and started proselyting and people asked why we weren't going to greet our President. Oops, missed the invite I guess. I didn't really have much more affected though. I guess travel from place to place was pretty bad though. Lots and lots of security around going and coming from Accra. Our bishop invited us over for dinner one night. His wife was really funny. She brought out spoons and all this stuff for us to eat our fufu and she about fell over in shock when we said we didn't them. Another funny thing is I saw a guy in my area using a little league batting helmet as his helmet for when he rides his motorcyle. One of our investigators, George Nsonswah, we found out makes toliet paper. We are trying to get a hook up to tour the factory one of these p-days. Sunday as we were out teaching we saw a guy with a truck that had Arizona painted on it. I contacted him and told him I was from Arizona. He got really excited and told me he loves that country and wants to go there. I told him it was nice place and that I missed it. That was about it. This upcoming week we are going to have a missionary sacrament. We will talk and I think teach the classes too. That is our whole focus is member missionary work. Anyway good luck this week!